April Meal: Pumpkin Soup

Wait... What day is it again? MAY?! When did May happen?!
April started out and stayed for the most part very warm and mild; definitely not soup weather...
We did manage to snag one cool day which inspired me to get around to the April Meal.
And hear me well, I beg*. After making this soup, I'm sorry I put it off for as long as I did!





This recipe is -fabulously- easy. Not very many ingredients (although Chestnuts can be hard to find; I wasn't able to come across any fresh ones, but did find some canned.)
Soups are also a great way of using up some of your older, sadder looking veggies.

In fact the only hard part was the chopping...




And the peeling...



Everything after that happens in the magic pot!
Throw everything into the pot except for the nutmeg. Don't forget those fresh herbs!



All herbs came from my garden; parsley, sage, thyme and oregano.
Bring up to a simmer and just let those things cook away until everything is tender.

Now you need to blend everything together; which can be done with lots of awkward trips to the Cuisinart blender ... OR! You can grab one of these babies:



I love this hand-held blender with all my heart.



Blend baby blend!
Now, I have to admit that I was very disappointed at this stage and how thin the soup was; I like my pumpkin soups to be much thicker then it was, so I decided to throw the rest of the chestnuts from the can which thickened it up nicely.

After this all that's left is to stir in the nutmeg and slice up some bread to serve with your soup.



And then ladle it into a pretty bowl and decorate with your favourites! Mine happens to be a dollop of Greek yogurt and some Parmesan cheese!


(Apologies for the poor photo; it gets dark so early here now!)

Recipe!

Golden Pumpkin Soup with Chestnuts

Ingredients:
8 cups rich chicken stock
approx 750g deep yellow pumpkin, peeled and cubed
3 brown onions, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks (with leaves), sliced
2 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs (such as thyme, sage, oregano, parsley)
3/4 cup chestnuts, peeled and diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
light cream, yoghurt, chopped chives and/or Parmesan cheese for garnish!

Combine stock, pumpkin, onions, celery, herbs and chestnuts in a large saucepan. Cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender. Blend liquid and vegetables together until silky smooth.

Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Reheat for a couple of minutes.

Ladle into serving bowls and garnish however you like your pumpkin soups best!
ENJOY!


* I've been reading far too much Dark Tower...

Monthly Meal: March, Moroccan Casserole

Sneaking in at the last possible moment. Once again, I actually cooked this dish weeks and weeks ago. I just haven't managed to write it up... I've been busy distracted lazy.



Ye olde ingredients lineup.

As with most casseroles, this isn't a very complicated affair.


It starts off with a long simmer...



Veggies thrown in... and spices...



More veggies... more simmering...



Eventually everything starts coming together...





Enjoy a plateful on a bed of fluffy couscous...



And enjoy!

I'd like to say that I enjoyed this dish, I really really would. But I didn't. A lot of it was my fault, I must have been having an off cooking day. Everything could have taken longer to cook; the onions were underdone, so were the eggplants at the time of serving. It's a -very- lemoney dish and while in general I quite like lemoney things, this one was just overpowering.

I think, if I were to do it again I would really sautee the onions, perhaps in olive oil first instead of in lemon juice... and really let it sit and cook longer through all the rest of the steps as well.

The couscous was -delicious- and I'd definitely cook it again in a heart beat, although for this dish the extra citrus zest coupled with the lemoney casserole was overkill.

Ah well, always next month!

Ingredients:
Casserole:
2 small onions, peeled and sliced
2 garlic gloves, crushed
Juice of 3 lemons or limes
4 small Lebanese Eggplants, sliced
1 tablespoon Moroccan or Middle Eastern Spice mix
1 400g can diced tomatoes
1 cup of well flavoured vegetable stock
1 400g can chickpeas
Coarse ground pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves

Spicy Couscous:
2 cups couscous
2 tablespoons currants
zest from 2 oranges
zest from 1 lemon or lime
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

What you do!

Combine onions, garlic and the juice of 2 lemons or limes in a large non-stick saucepan. Cook gently for a few minutes until onion softens. Add the eggplant and the Spice Mix and toss together for a couple of minutes over moderate heat.

Add tomatoes with juice from the can together with the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover saucepan and simmer for about 12 minutes. Add the drained chickpeas and mix in thoroughly, continue to simmer gently.

In the meantime, prepare couscous according to packet instructions. When it is light and fluffy, stir in the currants, citrus zests, olive oil and pine nuts.

Add pepper to chickpea casserole, toss through the parsley.

Serve at once on warmed plates, with warm Turkish bread to mop up savoury juices! Low-fat Greek style natural yoghurt is also delicious along with it.


Edit:
Oh! I forgot to mention, that I also substituted the vegetable stock with some left-over chicken stock made from scratch. We were trying to use up the rest of it. In retrospect, it was MUCH weaker in flavour then the boxed vegetable stock would have been. I think if it had been a bit more concentrate then it would have mellowed out the intense lemoney flavour as well; so make sure you use good strong vegetable stock too if you were to make this.

February Meal: Salmon and Salsa

Eek! Just sneaking in before the month is up.
We (mum and I) started with the intention of doing each month's "meal" on the first of each month, but that quickly has to give way to a more realistic schedule.
I cooked this up a couple of weeks ago, around mid-February, but am only now getting around to posting about it, shame on me!



There's no ingredients over-view shot this year since it's so simple to put together, also most of the ingredients this year came right from my garden and so mostly I was picking and chopping as I went along ;)

The first step of this is to char-grill your capsicum! This is very easy to do. You just put your capsicums onto a tray and put them under your grill just until the skin has become charred.



Then pop those suckers into a zip-lock baggie for twenty minutes or so and the skin will peel right off without any effort.



Then you mix together the rest of the salsa.. dicing up those capsicums, tomatos... adding in herbs, lemon juice and brown sugar...





Then let all that sit for an hour or so for all the flavours to mellow and come together. Beautiful!



When you're ready to eat, heat up a grill pan and grill your fish.



I have to admit that even after living here for two years and all the fantastic fish available from the area, salmon is still one of my favourites. Every now and again I get some pretty strong cravings for wild Atlantic salmon... Down here though, the farmed Tasmanian variety will have to do.

Once they're all done plate up with a simple salad and you're ready to eat!



Recipe for Grilled Salmon Cutlets with Roasted Capsicum & Coriander Salsa
Serves: 6 (I cut the recipe in half since it's just mum and I eating)

Ingredients:
* 6 Atlantic salmon cutlets
* 1 tablespoon olive oil

Salsa:
* 3 large red capsicums, quartered and seeded.
* 3 spring onions, finely chopped
* 1 large ripe tomato, seeded and diced
* 1/3 cup finely chopped chives
* 1/4 cup coriander, finely chopped
* 1 1/2-2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon soft brown sugar
* sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat grill and cook the capsicum quarters, skin side up, until well charred. Place into a plastic bag and seal tightly- after about 20 minutes, skin can be easily removed.

Cut the capsicum finely and place into a bowl to cool. Mix with all remaining ingredients. Set aside for an hour or two to let flavours mellow.

At serving time, preheat grill. Brush both sides of the cutlets with the olive oil. Cook cutlets three to four minutes each side or until cooked through.

Serve immediately with capsicum salsa spooned over the top.
ENJOY!

This dish was a particular joy for me since the tomatos, chives, coriander and lettuce in the salad all came from my garden. It was delicious.

January Meal: Asian Beef Salad

Our local pharmacy has given us a wall calendar of "Healthy Family Favourite Recipes"!
For each month there's a new recipe to try, plus a "Tip of the Month!"

Mum and I have decided to give the monthly recipe a shot for each new month, and I should probably get around to posting the results of January's meal BEFORE January is over, shouldn't I!!



January Meal: Asian Beef Salad



First up, the cast of characters, minus the fresh herbs (all of which came from my garden).

Preparing this meal was very easy, but it makes a lot, even though the recipe says it serves four people. For easy mixing I divided it into two bowls.



First thing you want to do is rub sesame oil over both sides of your steak and sprinkle them generously with cracked pepper!



Then chop up all of the veggies.. (you can de-seed your chillies if you don't like a very spicy meal, I left ours in since my brother had been complaining about the lack of heat in recent family meals ;)



Whisk up the dressing ingredients...



Let your rice noodles soak in some boiling water for a little while, then drain when they're done...



And then go pick all of your herbs and shred them into the salad (from my garden: Thai basil (a new discovery, it's growing quite well and tastes -amazing-!), Coriander and Mint)



Then just toss everything together...



Slice up your meat after it's done resting and add that as well...



Serve up and enjoy! It got approvals all round; a very simple and pleasant summer meal.



Yum! Can't wait for next month!

Recipe for Asian Beef Salad.

Ingrediants:
250g rice noodles
500-600g porterhouse or rump steak
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon palm or brown sugar
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 small cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 small red capsicum, julienned
12 young mint leaves
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves
1/2 cup Coriander leaves
2 small red chillies, very thinly sliced

Preheat a grill.
Brush the sesame oil over both sides of the steak and sprinkly surface with pepper.
Cook for 3-4 minutes each side on grill for medium rare.
Transfer to a plate, cover lightly with foil and leave for a few minutes for juices to "set".

Place noodles in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

In small bowl whisk together fish sauce, lime juice and sugar for dressing.

In a large bowl combine noodles, tomatos, cucumber, capsicum, fresh herbs and chilli.
Slice the beef thinly, add to the salad.
Drizzle over the dressing and toss lightly to mix.
Serve and enjoy!

Oh, and today's "Tip of the Month" is to Drink 8 classes of water a day! This is not difficult for me to do at all since the weather has been so hot; have you been getting enough water?



Thanks so much to House of Annie for pointing me towards the Grow Your Own Round-up. A blogging event that celebrates home-grown produce! What a fantastic idea!
Since I used my home-grown herbs in this meal I've gone ahead and entered this current round.
You can read more about the GYO even here, and check out Annie's site for this month's entry form!